Health library
An evidence-graded guide to low-carb eating, fasting and exercise, built around Indian and Tamil home cooking.
Compiled by Jayakanthan, Richmond, Virginia
Started from the popular Tamil Paleo diet chart. Every claim is checked against medical journals and graded A to D, including the ones that did not hold up.
The Tamil Paleo chart helped many people cut sugar and rice, and for type 2 diabetes the core idea has real support. Some of its claims go beyond what studies show, and a few parts are unsafe for people on certain medicines. This site keeps what holds up, flags what does not, and shows the evidence for each claim.
Nutrition science is never "indisputable". Trials are short, people differ, and good researchers disagree. So every claim here carries a grade: A strong, B moderate, C weak, D no real evidence. Where the evidence points the other way, you will see ✕.
Before you change anything, know your numbers and check your medicines. This is the part most diet charts skip.
Read this before changing your diet
Start here
The lab tests worth doing first, the medicines that make low-carb and fasting risky, and the side effects to expect.
Which blood tests to get before a low-carb diet or fasting, what the results mean, which medicines need a doctor's plan, and who should not start.
Start here
Enter your baseline, 3-month and latest results. See where each one sits and what changed, then take the printout to your doctor.
Track HbA1c, glucose, lipids, ApoB, Lp(a), kidney, liver and B12 results before and after a diet change.
Start here
Every instruction and every promised benefit on the widely shared tamilhealth diet chart, graded against the research.
A line-by-line, evidence-graded review of the Tamil Paleo diet chart (meat-based and veg + egg versions): what holds up, what doesn't, and what is unsafe for some people.
Low-carb, no added sugar, no ultra-processed food, and how to do that in an Indian kitchen.
What to eat
Where cutting carbohydrates clearly helps, where it is no better than other diets, and what to watch: LDL, fats and long-term safety.
Trials and meta-analyses on low-carb diets for type 2 diabetes, weight, cholesterol and fatty liver, plus added sugar, ultra-processed food, saturated fat, ghee and oils.
What to eat
How much carbohydrate is in idli, dosa, rice and chapati, which vegetables and keerai to fill up on, and how vegetarians get enough protein without loading up on paneer.
Net carbs in common South Indian foods, the glycemic index of Indian staples, a keerai guide with Tamil names, millets, and vegetarian protein on a low-carb plan.
What to eat
What Paleo is, what the randomized trials actually found, and where the Tamil version differs from both.
The origins of the Paleo diet, every major randomized trial, what its food bans get wrong, and the history of the Tamil Paleo Facebook movement.
When you eat, and how you move after you eat, both affect blood sugar.
Fasting and movement
An eating window helps some people eat less. The trials say it is not magic, longer is not better, and it can be dangerous with some medicines.
What trials show about 12:12, 16:8, 18:6, 20:4 and one meal a day, who should not fast, and a safe way to start.
Fasting and movement
The chart says 30 minutes of mild walking. The evidence says: walk after you eat, add strength training, and South Asians probably need more than the standard 150 minutes.
What trials show about exercise, post-meal walks, strength training and sitting for blood sugar, with targets for South Asians.
Fasting and movement
Check whether you need your doctor first, then get a step-by-step eating window that fits your day.
A safety check and step-by-step time-restricted eating plan, starting at 12 hours and going no further than the evidence supports.
Recipes and calculators you can use every day.
Kitchen
43 South Indian and North Indian home recipes without rice, wheat or sugar. Vegetarian, egg and non-veg.
43 low-carb Tamil and Indian recipes with estimated net carbs, protein and fat per serving.
Kitchen
Net carbs, protein and fat for 152 Indian and Tamil foods, searchable in English, Tamil or Hindi.
Search net carbohydrate, protein and fat for 152 Indian foods, from keerai to idli, with Tamil names.